BUTADIENE

Butadiene is chemical which formula is C4H6. It has several important industrial uses. When the word butadiene is used, it refers to 1,3-butadiene Butadiene is used primarily as a monomer in the production of a wide range of polymers. It is also used as an intermediate in the production of several chemicals

Most of butadiene is polymerized to produce synthetic rubbers

BUTADIENE PRODUCTION
Currently, butadiene is produced commercially by three [3] processes :
1. Steam Cracking of Paraffinic Hydrocarbons as feed stock - in this process, butadiene is a coproduct in the manufacture of ethylene (the ethylene co-product process)

2. Catalytic Dehydrogenation of n-Butane and n-Butene (the Houdry process)

3. Oxidative Dehydrogenation of n-Butene (the Oxo-D or O-X-D process)

Note : The steam cracking process [ethylene production] is reported to be the predominant method of the three processes of production, accounting for greater than 91% of the world's butadiene supply

STEAM CRACKING
Steam cracking [ethylene production] plants use a variety of feedstocks like :
1. Ethane, propane and butane from natural gas 2. Naphtha, a mixture of C5 to C10 hydrocarbons, from the distillation of crude oil 3. Gas oil and residues, also from the primary distillation of oil

Steam cracking [ethylene production] licensors:

MW Kellogg Stone and Webster Linde Phillips Brown & Root Braun Shell Lummus Crest Technip Lurgi Halcon-SD KTI

TYPICAL STEAM CRACKING PLANT

Figure 1. A view of the steam crackers at Ludwigshafen in German - by kind permission of BASF (http://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/processes/crackingisomerisation-and-reforming.html)

TYPICAL STEAM CRACKING PLANT

Note :
The flow path of the C4 components (including butadiene) are indicated by red bold lines
Heat Exchange Hydrogen Fuel Gas Ethylene Propylene

C Splitter

C Acetylene Converter Feedstocks Ethane Propane Butane Naphtha Gasoil

C Acetylene Converter

Ethane Propane Crude Butadiene

Demethanizer

Deethaninizer

Depropanizer

Compression

Caustic Scrubber

Process Gas Dryer

Cracking Furnaces

Quench

Gasoline Stripper Raw Pyrolysis Gasoline Fuel Oil

Debutanizer

C Splitter

BUTADIENE PURIFICATION
1,3-butadiene should be separated from other C4 compound in crude butadiene to meet sales requirement

Figure 2. Example composition of crude butadiene

(http://www.americanchemistry.com/ProductsTechnology/Olefins/ButadieneProduct-Stewardship-Guidance-Manual.pdf)

BUTADIENE PURIFICATION

Figure 3. Major Butadiene Recovery Processes

(http://www.americanchemistry.com/ProductsTechnology/Olefins/Butadien e-Product-Stewardship-Guidance-Manual.pdf)

Please see next slide for simple explanation for each butadiene recovery processes

BUTADIENE PURIFICATION
Process A : Acetylene Hydrogenation/Extractive Distillation using MOPN/Furfural

BUTADIENE PURIFICATION
Process B : Extractive and Conventional Distillation using NMP [licenced by BASF]

BUTADIENE PURIFICATION
Process C : DMF Solvent Extraction Process [licenced by Nippon Zeon]

BUTADIENE PURIFICATION
Process D : Aqueous Separation and CAN Extraction Process [licenced by Shell and LyondellBasell Industries]

USES OF BUTADIENE